Left climbs down on nuclear deal

NEW DELHI: Ending weeks of brinkmanship, the government and the Left have reached a compromise under which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will make a statement on the Indo-US nuclear deal in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. But there will be no resolution or “sense of the House’’ expression as the Left and the opposition parties had been demanding.

A government source, who wished to remain unidentified, said “all the concerns raised by the Left, and more’’ will be addressed by the PM. He said the statement will set clear parameters for Indo-US civilian nuclear energy cooperation.

As part of the preparation for the debate, the PM met Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar, National Security Adviser MK Narayanan, and Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma on Wednesday. Sharma will intervene in the discussion before the PM wraps up the debate with his statement.

The understanding between the Left and the government, which paved the way for the debate, was reached after tortuous negotiations that saw both government interlocutors and Left leaders issue threats to bring down the government.

Significantly, Sonia Gandhi refused to get involved in the talks. 

According to a Congress source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Gandhi told CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, when he met her to ask for her help in breaking the impasse, that the nuclear deal is government business and any differences should be sorted out with the government.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee led the government side in the negotiations. At one stage, he told Left leaders that a resolution or “sense of the House’’ expression is unconstitutional and would amount to an expression of no confidence in the government. “There will be no government (in that case),’’ he said, the source revealed.

The Left’s response was equally hawkish. According to another source, who wished to remain unidentified, when the possibility of the government falling was raised at a recent meeting of Left leaders, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat snapped that no one would shed a tear if that happened.

It was the BJP’s bid to fish in troubled waters and widen the rift between the partners that forced a climbdown by both sides. While the Left has settled for a statement from the PM, the government has agreed to make a substantive reply to Thursday’s discussion.

The official source said the government has concerns of its own on some of the clauses that have found their way into the draft bills currently under discussion in the US Congress. Interestingly, these concerns were voiced in a statement issued on Monday by eminent nuclear scientists. The PM is likely to touch on these as well when he speaks in the Rajya Sabha. This will send an important signal to the US that the deal is not just a political issue in India. The country’s nuclear establishment also has reservations.

While the Marxists and the government have reached an understanding, the Left has reserved the right to walk out after the PM’s statement if it feels its questions have not been adequately answered.

The BJP is yet to decide its strategy, but now that it has been left out in the cold, the party may resort to a walkout in protest against the government’s refusal to allow a resolution.